Don’t Do Weights Once a Month, You Moron…
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
12 Days Until Bolder Boulder

What crazy weather. It was cold outside when I awoke at 3:30 am. It had rained last night and was still drizzling. I knew running outdoors was not in the cards and, admittedly, was happy to see the wet weather give me a break. And having had only three hours of sleep would have meant I probably would have croaked after a mile anyway.

Despite knowing I should go back to bed, I got up, took care of the dogs and got ready to go to the YMCA. I decided that I needed to get back to some weight training just to vary my routine. This is exactly what my running partner had suggested.

Tracy greeted me at the YMCA and kidded me about not having been there for a while. Mike later came over to chat and said the staff was worried my running partner got me to “defect” to the Erie Recreation Center. I told him I was loyal to the YMCA but didn’t have a problem being a member of both facilities.

My workout was a challenge. You can’t do a hard weight workout once a month. You need to do it three or four times a week to get in shape and at least twice to maintain it. I was so out of shape it was pathetic. Call me “dough boy.” I weighed in at the YMCA at 208 and knew that was not a good omen.

There were 17 weight machines I used in my “routine” (that was an abusive use of the word, given how little I had been using the machines these days). I despised five of them and always tried to do them first to get them out of the way. It was similar to children who eat the food they don’t like first (such as vegetables) so they then can take their time savoring the good stuff – and not have that taste ruined by the crummy food.

I did one machine (an arm curl) and was surprised to have been able to do all 60 repetitions at the same weight I usually did. Then I tried a leg curl of sorts and found that killed me. I eventually did four sets totaling 100 reps at my “usual” weight. I then went on to do a total of eight machines, including the five I liked the least. That left nine machines for “next time.”

Several people knew I hadn’t been there a while and guaranteed I would be terribly sore tomorrow. I was hoping they were wrong but knew better. Nevertheless, I was pleased to have accomplished so much even though it took me over an hour to do just the 8 machines.

I started the food-day well with a banana. It was downhill from there. Next I had three hot apple pies from McDonalds last night and a glass of milk. Still hungry, I nuked a double-cheeseburger from Mickey D’s and soon was quite full.

After working, I drove to Denver to review tapes. One of my team members, Ford North, was trying to log all our tapes so we could get shots of guests He was hoping I could look at a date – such as January 12, 2003, and remember what the program was about and who the guests were. Fat chance. We did find some gems, however, and I started to remember some of the fun programs we did as well as some of the great guests.

I remembered how comedian Josh Blue had his television debut on my show as did a number of local political analysts, experts, and elected officials. Today we were looking for people who were known nationally and we found some footage of conventions, conferences, and other events I had attended with a camera crew.

Our purpose was to create a new “Open” for the TV show. Chris Rojas already had patched together a temporary new Open but, with Ford’s help, he would be able to make two new Opens which we could rotate. It would be a fun way to introduce the show.

While we were going through tapes, the Station employees had gathered to discuss the strategic plan for the organization. They were in breakout sessions and one of them invited me to join them. They asked if I had seen the plan and I said I had not but would be willing to review it, if anyone wanted me to do so.

I then suggested they consider permanently putting a mechanism in place which allowed the Station to reach out to viewers when there was a disaster anywhere in the world. With the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China – and the death total in the tens of thousands in each country – I thought we should produce some public service announcements (PSA’s) which informed viewers how they could help.

I believed most Americans were at a loss in terms of what to do because both countries were not exactly open societies. In Myanmar, the ruling military dictators were preventing assistance from reaching victims. In China, the government initially was slow to accept help but then had opened up completely. I offered to cut a PSA if that would be helpful. Everyone in the group liked the idea and, on that high note, I left.

At the TV Station, I had some green tea but decided to wait to eat until I got home. When I did, I had a quick snack (yes, I was naughty – what do you expect with all the McDonalds food I had brought home last night?). I worked on Website issues and made phone calls while returning e-mail and then taking out the dogs.

I had a dental appointment and then did some grocery shopping. At Albertsons I tried some delicious brie and other cheeses offered to me along with some crackers. At Kind Soopers, I bought about seven pounds of cheese so we were well-stocked. Due to high dairy prices, cheese was rarely on sale any more at the kind of discounts they had for years. Unfortunately, that now seemed to apply to a very large number of items. My guess was everyone’s food bill was going up 10 to 20% across the board this year.

At home, I made Holly a turkey sandwich for a snack and then made a giant one with red onion for myself. I decided that would be the last foodstuff I consumed today. I knew I didn’t need any more. I was curious to see if I could pull off that plan.

Work ended at 8:00 pm and I decided to unwind. I knew I was going to have a rough time running tomorrow and found myself praying for rain.

I came close to not eating but wasn’t too bad. Later that evening, at about 9:00 pm, Holly wanted a snack and suggested cottage cheese and pineapple chunks. I was pleased at her proposal and made a bowl for her. In the process, I have to admit, I had some myself but didn’t feel too guilty. If I was going to renege on my no-eating-late-at-night commitment, this wasn’t too bad a violation.